A Lifetime in Her Eyes
by VanishRain
Summary: Booth is left to raise his daughter all on his own. Brennan kept in contact up until six months ago. Will her reasons be enough to keep her in her daughter's life or will she be left to live her life from the outside looking in?
1. Chapter 1

"Daddy, why did mommy leave me?" Booth heard hesitantly come from the back seat.

Gripping the wheel tighter he let out an exacerbated sigh. After five years one would think it would get easier but breaking his daughter's heart was not something he did willingly. Six months: no letters, no calls, not even smoke signals. His daughter deserved better. She deserved a mother who cared, who was more than a paycheck.

He didn't even know if she was dead or alive. He knew he deserved that much. Even if part of him had died the day she walked out of their lives, he still lived on. Not for him but for that brown haired, blue eyed girl that reminded him daily of all the things he loved about his partner. Or what he knew of his partner. The last he heard she was touring around Europe with her latest novel.

The book that still lay neatly in its box on his nightstand. He had received it a year ago but never got up the courage to open it. Everyone told him to read it, that it would give him some closure but Brennan's writing on the top was enough to send him over the edge. The woman he loved was out there, somewhere, holding a piece of his heart and all he got in return was a stupid pre-release copy of her new book. Did she even remember her daughter's name?

"Daddy… why?" The girl lightly prodded, notebook and pen ready to take down the same notes she had for the last six years.

"She didn't leave you, munchkin." He stopped at the red light, smiling at the brunette in the booster seat, "She just needed to go to work."

"Oh, okay." Joy lightly smiled as she began writing.

A flood of relief rolled over Booth as the silence filled the cabin. Even though it had become a nearly daily occurrence, his heart still raced as the broken words flowed out of his angel's lips. Although she was named for her mother's namesake, she had become the joy of his life. Without her Booth didn't know what he would have done. She gave him a reason to go on with only half a heart and shattered dreams.

"Daddy…" She whispered, closing her notebook and tucking it back in her bag.

"Yes, Joy?"

"Can we have pizza for dinner?"

"Sure." Booth pulled up to the school and smiled, "Be good."

"I will daddy." She assured, bounding out of the back seat with a smile firmly implanted.

"And no more science experiments during lunch!" He yelled as the door slammed behind her but it was too late. Joy was half way up the stairs before the words fell from his lips.

Turning over the picture on his dash, Booth let out a somber sigh.

"Oh Bones…" His thumb rain lightly over his partner's outline, "Where are you? Joy needs to know you love her… she needs you in her life. She's getting smart now." He beamed as a single tear rolled down his check, "All the excuses I come up with are becoming silly to her now. She needs the truth… and she needs it from you." Placing the picture back in its designated spot, Booth pealed out and drove to the Hover to start his work week.

Little did he know she was closer than he ever expected her to be. Closer then she even thought she could be.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking up the stairs Booth heard what only could be described as off key screaming. Even though his daughter had inherited her mother's love for music, she had also inherited his off-key singing ability. It only took a few steps into his apartment before he could hear the singing cease and the sound of small footsteps coming barreling toward him.

"Daddy!" Joy beamed, charging into her father's legs, "Pizza, pizza, pizza! Pizza!"

"Joy…" Booth growled, dropping his coat on the hock, "What did I say about manners?"

"Oh. Oh yeah." The girl slowly took a step back, "Did ya catch the bad guy today?" She giggled, probing her father's ego.

"What do you think?" He turned toward the child, cradling her in his arms as he walked toward the kitchen.

"My daddy always catches the bad guy." Joy turned toward her nanny and smiled, "You're not a bad guy, are you?"

"Juliet is not a bad guy, Joy." Booth shook his head at his daughter.

"Good." She squirmed from his grasp and running down the hall toward her bedroom. "He won't have to use his shiny gun."

Her obsession with weapons… another clear indication she was mostly Brennan and just slightly his. Since she was five, every time he went to the range she was in tow. It originally was out of necessity but soon he found himself unable to say no to those delicate blues.

"Wash up the pizza should be here soon!" He yelled, causing the footprints to stop and slowly walk into the bathroom.

"She was very good this evening." The twenty-something nanny flashed a smile at Booth, trying to catch the attention of the clearly distracted man.

"So no explosions I need to know about?" He spoke, pushing mail around on the counter and unaffected by her sudden close proximity and tight fitting clothing.

"Nope." Juliet lightly whispered, "Is there anything else you need, Mr. Booth?"

Booth's eyes flicked up at the woman then focused intently on the calendar behind her. How could he not know what today was?

"Mr. Booth?" She placed her hand on his shoulder, sending him out of his revere.

"No. Have a good evening, Juliet." He politely nodded; gaze still locked on the date.

"Oh… okay. Goodnight Seeley." The young woman smiled one last time, standing in the doorway. "Same time tomorrow?"

Her eyes followed the man pace across the kitchen then jerk his tie off and throw it haphazardly on the counter. He was usually a calm and collected man but today he clearly had something else on his mind. Tonight would not be the night she won over his heart. And with the way he had been ignoring her passes lately, never had become a strong possibility.

Moments later a small knock came from the other side of the door followed by a thump.

"Pizza!" Joy ran down the hall toward the door.

Running up to the door Joy pushed the door open and sighed. Still no pizza. Just a woman standing before her, forehead outstretched where the door once was and puddle forming at her feet.

"Daddy! A lady is here to see you…" Her eyes ran up and down the woman, "A very sad woman."

"Juliet I told you for the fifth time…" Booth threw down an envelope.

"Juliet?" The woman standing in the doorway voice shook.

Booth's eyes shot up and he gasped. Sure her hair was darker and she was much skinnier then he remembered but that voice was not one he could ever forget. And those crystalline eyes, his daughter a clear reminder of how pretty her eyes were… or once were, the eyes boring into him now seemed so hollow, almost ghostly as they pleaded for redemption.

"Bren…" His eyes were drawn to the child standing in the doorway; did she even remember who this woman was? "Munchkin can you go set the table, please?"

"She's pretty" Joy smiled at the woman standing her doorway before turning toward the kitchen, "but not as much fun as the pizza."

"Thank you, Joy." The woman smiled slightly for the first time in months. It had been a long six years but a lifetime could not deny the Brennan features the child held, "Your structure is forming quite nicely."

"Uh… thank you…" She looked back at the woman, "Daddy she's weird." She whispered passing her father.

"You have no idea, honey." He chuckled to himself. He had often wondered about his daughter's quarks but the proof was standing in front of him. Or at least she once was. The woman standing before him was a shell of what he remembered, a figment of a past life.

Walking slowly toward the door, his heart tensed watching the tears slowly flow down her flushed checks. All the hate he had held for the last six years quickly dissipated. The woman he had hated was gone. The one standing before him was completely shattered, hallow and empty.

"She… she's beautiful." She sniffled, "I… she's perfect."

"Just like her mother." He softly whispered, unable to help himself. All he needed was a smile, a singular smile to show that her life wasn't as horrible as her body indicated. She had to have some fight in her, some drive… something to prove she was more than just a breathing ghost.

"I'll leave you two alone…" She shyly turned, trying to run from the man who once said she was his world but now she knew she was much less than an afterthought. Maybe if she left he would forget she ever existed, it was like he _needed_ her anymore… well not as much as she _**needed**_ him.

This was a bad idea. Who was she to have the nerve to randomly drop by her ex-lovers house six years later? It was not like she really had a claim on him anymore. She thought she needed closure, proof that his life was much better without her in it. Six years was enough time to get over the wreck he had turned her into, she told herself over and over. But standing in his doorway, familiar sights and smells beating her senses… the truth was a lifetime was not enough.

This was a horrible idea.

"I… I just." She choked on the bile rising up, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come."

Her mind screamed to run but her body refused to even flinch. Mesmerized in all things Booth, he was like a drug she couldn't get enough of. She gasped and dry heaved, knowing another wave of panic attacks had reared its ugly head. Her doctors had told her if she didn't get to the root of her attacks they would kill her but standing before what she originally was the cause, she found herself incorrect. This attack would be much stronger than ever before, this might be it… this might be the end.

"Bones!" His voice jerked, startling her and causing her to drop her bag. "Dinner should be here soon. Why don't you come in and have a slice?" He winched as the woman before him flinched and gasped, unable to catch her breath. She looked so weak and feeble, barely able to even stand.

"I couldn't impose." Her teeth rattled as she backed up, stumbling on her bag and falling onto a heap on the floor.

"You wouldn't be." He smiled, out stretching his hand and pulling her up. Brennan was hesitant but the warmth his body oozed was one her body was begging for. She had been cold for far too long, even the dead envied her.

"I can see you…" Her meek voice whispered, suddenly caught by the way his arms cradled her body so perfectly.

"Shh, shh." He soothed, unable to stop the shivering as her ice cold flesh flash froze his own.

"But you…" She adamantly protested, clinging to the heartbreak that had practically destroyed her all those years ago, "you're her parent now…"

"You can deny it all you want but we both know the truth, Bones. You're her mother. You carried her for seven months and was the one who never left her side while she was in the hospital. If that does not prove your ability to care for your young, I don't know what does."

"But Booth…" She whispered, eyes rolling back in her head.

"Mommy?" Joy gasped, as the familiar tone soothed her aching heart. Running toward her father with her arms wide open, Joy stopped short and cringed. After all the stories her father had told her of her mother, this was not the woman she was expecting. "Why does mommy look dead?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Mommy is not exactly dead…" Booth shook the woman in his arms, "Right Bren?"

"But dad… she's green. Oh… oh… she's an alien… and that means I am one too!" Joy beamed, twirling around in circles at the revelation.

"She's just…" Booth placed his hand on Brennan's neck to check her pause, "She just needs some rest. Why don't you go play in your room for a bit and I will call you when the pizza gets here. Okay, sweetie?" 

"But daddy…" Joy pleaded, her brown orbs twinkling in the soft lighting.

"If you're good, later we will get some ice cream with mommy. How does that sound?"

"Sundae and sprinkles… and marshmallows… and… and…" The girl beamed, caught up in the sugary future.

"Yes, yes." He interrupted as the woman in his arms lightly murmured, "You have to be good though."

"Okay daddy." Joy giggled, running down the hall and barreling into her room.

As soon as the door shut, Booth turned his attention to the fragile woman in his arms. In the few short years she had shattered. The deep set eyes, the cold heart shattering stare of hers… even the grin she had reserved solely for him had seemed to fade into the wind, leaving behind a mask of pain and self loathing.

"Come on Bones… you gotta wake up…" He pathetically pleaded as he looked down at the shell of the woman he once knew, unable to keep the fear from dripping from word, "Just look at me… please…"

Her body jerked at his touch, refusing to wake from her almost perfect dream of a love once lost. As soon as her eyes opened, she knew she would be hit with the reality that he was never really hers.

"Joy needs you." His voice cracked and in that instant his emotional wall shattered and the words just kept flowing, "Babe… please. I cannot do this alone anymore. She needs a mother and a father… a family unit… most importantly, I need you."

Lightly stroking her check he smiled as her dazed eyes fluttered opened at the admission. A small smile formed around her lips but soon faded as her eyes dropped, trying to mask the pain running through her veins.

"There you are." He locked his gaze on her, "What was that all about?"

"No-nothing" She stuttered, trying to break free from his grasp, "I shouldn't have came. This was a mistake."

And there it was, he _needed_ her. After all she had done, all the heartbreak she had caused and he still needed her. It was written all over his face and that pain was just something she could not take. He was supposed to be over her, happy and have moved on. Not in the same tortured fate she had found herself in, the one she had caused.

Heartbreak, party of two.

What if they gave it another try and it didn't work out? Or worse, what if he left her? Living life from the outside looking in was something Brennan had become accustomed to, practically an expert, and letting someone in… giving him another chance to shatter her world into a thousand of pieces, that was a risk that she knew could kill her.

Their eyes locked, in a fight of wills as they both willed the years of pain and regret on the other. Both letting their glares open wounds they had once closed off to the world, nursing a pain that only the other could truly understand. Two fateful lovers too stubborn to be the one to give in and admit defeat. A give and take that had worked so perfectly, almost too perfectly until the day they broke… causing a time shift and fate to change forever.

"You… you just don't understand." She whispered and the vulnerably of her voice practically shattered his heart.

"Understand what?" He asked on a broken sob.

"What this means to me." Her voice was raw and rough, "What you did to me. What we did to each other. All those late nights… those…" Her voice broke as she shook, "No one… no one."

"But babe…" His voice rasped, unable to keep his love from falling to the forefront of his bottleneck emotions, "I have always been here. Always."

With a slight nod she stood, knowing she had already broken the man beyond what she even knew she was capable of. Was their love even fixable anymore?

"Here," She frowned, picking up an item from her purse and tossing it in her former partner's direction, "maybe you will have better luck with these then I did."

"Bones… these are a heavy sedative." Booth angrily shook the pill bottle in his former partner's direction. "What in the world are you doing with these stupid things?"

"If you would have just listened to me…" Her eyes lightly flicked up but soon fell, "they were prescribed a few months back. My name is clearly affixed on the label if you don't believe me. But as I stated, they are utterly useless for my ailment." _Because I am dying of a broken heart_ she thought but left the words silent.

He glanced down, running his hand over white label. How had things gone so horribly wrong that she had needed a sedative to just live? If that is what you would call it. From the way he saw it, she hadn't lived… truly lived for years. She just waited for death to take her swiftly or slowly. It didn't matter to her anymore.

"The Temperance Brennan I knew lived life to the fullest. She didn't need stupid pills just to get through the day."

"Well, that woman is dead." She glared, "She died five years ago with a change of the locks and a silent goodbye."

"And whose fault is that?" He bitterly hissed. "Who is the one who decided to just get up one day and leave her family? Whose damn fault is that, Temperance?"

Her eyes narrowed at her former partner, attempting to glare him into oblivion. _You. You. It is all you, _her heart screamed but her mouth stayed silent. After all he had done for their daughter; the guilt of the truth was not what he deserved. The truth would be something she would take to her grave; at least there she knew it would do no more damage.

"The queen of compartmentalizing has finally broke." He lightly chuckled, "I never thought I would see the day that you didn't have a snide retort."

"Oh I know, I know all about breaking now." The words slowly spilled, "My world shattered the day I left this apartment." Her words were cold and dark, not the slightest hint of the happy woman he once knew.

At the slight knock on the door, Booth stood and retrieved the pizza, his eyes never leaving woman in his apartment. Even after all these years she still could surprise him but this surprise, it was heartbreaking. She was dying of heartbreak and it was all his fault.

"This loneness… I know it will be the death of me." She meekly confessed as soon as the door was firmly shut, "I thought you held the answers but coming back here… maybe I was wrong all along."

"Bones, you don't have to be alone. Joy loves you. She has never stopped." He tried to soothe, trying to keep this tears at bay but it was a war he would never win.

"Yes," She whispered faintly, "but do you? Because Booth, you're the only thing worth it anymore. All my daughter is, is a constant reminder of you… of us… of this."

He stood silent, watching her slowly pace. Every so often her eyes would glance at him but soon fall. She exhaled twice then turned to the man who once held her future. Cupping his face, she lightly brushed her lips against his and smiled as life slowly began to pump through her veins.

"I can't live dying of heartbreak anymore."

After living eleven years with an almost daily struggle of loving too much, Temperance Brennan was at her breaking point.

He thought he had always known that he was the one. But deep down from the second her eyes locked on his, her whole life had shifted. Everything in her life had made sense from that moment, as long as he was in it. He was irrationally, earth shatteringly the only one that would ever make her heart flutter as it did when he was around.

She knew. She always had.

And it was _killing_ her.


	4. Chapter 4

The tension that filled the small table in the corner of the ice cream shop seemed to catch the attention every passerby. After years of a suitcase as her only friend sitting in front of the man that filled her every thought was something her heart was not willing to accept. It had to be some sort of delusional nightmare where she was much more than a failure and a freak.

Being alone was something Temperance Brennan had become just accustomed to. It was not like she had tried but chasing people away had become a specialty of hers, able to be released in an instant and without warning. The once great woman could instantly turn on a dime and send the nearest man running for his life. That is, until she became face to face her own desperation. The man sitting before her had done nothing but prove to her time and time again that he would never forsaken her.

"Mommy…" Joy whined as she spattered her mother with sprinkles, "your ice cream is meeeellllting."

"Oh." Brennan's eyes suddenly feel to the gooey mess sticking her hands to the table. "Sorry."

"Joy, do not talk to your mother like that." Booth's glare was determined yet soft.

"Booth, really it is okay." Brennan tried to reassure her partner but her words suddenly fell short.

How was she to explain in front of her own flesh and blood that she wasn't even worthy of the distinction of motherhood? Sure, she had given birth to the child sitting next to her but being a mother was much more than carrying a child for nine months. And she hadn't even been able to do that right. They had told her over and over that the long work hours were putting added stress on her child but justice was of utmost importance to the naive anthropologist. Booth had even taken to physically removing his partner from her office and locking her in her apartment but all that did was change the venue.

She had worked fourteen hour days before she got pregnant without any side effects. If she could stand the lack of substance and sleep then her child could as well. She was a Brennan after all. All it took was a fateful night to change Brennan's perception forever. No more long hours, not even an eight hour day. Temperance Brennan's schedule was short and void of anything close to thrilling or dangerous. Her life was as boring as they come, anyone could see that the soul had been suddenly drawn from this woman and she was only a shell of woman. There was a part of her that long for the excitement she once lived upon but it was always short-lived. Only with the man sitting before her did she feel any sense of relief for the aching need to be something, someone or even feel alive. He fed her desire to just be.

"Booth…" Brennan humbly whispered as she slowly came out of her solemn haze, "I'm sorry I didn't take precautions when we were partners."

"Joy, you should show your mo-… what?" Booth's frantic eyes searched the woman before him mercilessly yet yielded nothing. To get Temperance Brennan to even admit the smallest flaw took the sharpest of tactics and cunning, not just half melted ice cream and bad fifties music.

"I just thought…" Brennan's eyes suddenly fell in embarrassment, "I thought you deserved an apology. After all you did for me… everyone kept telling me not to… I… I just didn't listen. You were my best friend, my partner and my soul mate. You deserved to be listened to. She was… is… your DNA too. I was being selfish and I-"

"Daddy, what is mommy talking about?" Joy asked in pure child-like innocence.

"Nothing, Joy. Nothing." Booth's voice was weak and strained but his eyes never left the woman before him, "Here… take these and go win mommy something special." Booth's hands fumbled with his wallet, pulling out bills and placing them in front of their daughter.

"Cool! A twenty!" Joy beamed as she ran toward the arcade at the back of the store.

"Bones, what are you saying?" Booth's voice rasped as his hands slowly inched across the table.

"Never mind. It's just stupid and childish. I thought after all these years you deserved a real apology for my actions. I was thinking only of myself and I really owe you so much more. Maybe if I would have listened… maybe if I would have tried…"

"Bones," the former nickname fell slowly from his lips in unabated comfort, "it isn't your fault."

"But she was premature!" Brennan was illogically calm and high pitched, "I had a chance to keep my child from having to deal with countless surgeries and near death experiences and I… I…"

"Oh Bones." Booth placed his hands over her trembling ones, "What was meant to happen did. I would have liked for my daughter to not spend the first six months of her life in and out of hospitals too but you cannot change the past. She is a beautiful, healthy child now. The doctors said she recovered quicker then they ever expected her to and shows no permanent signs her first few months."

Brennan's hands slowly pulled out from under his and she clenched her seat to keep from falling over in shock. If she had stayed then she would have known what had truly happened but the sixth time Joy was rushed to the emergency room, Brennan knew her staying would cause many more problems. As much as it pained her to leave her the only two people she had ever loved she did what needed to be done. Maybe without her in the picture things would go back to way they once were before Temperance Brennan managed to screw up the lives of everyone around her daily.

"She was really sick…" Brennan cried in anguish, "I love her and I couldn't see the life slip from her small body every week. She… she just looked so small and helpless. I was her mother I should have been able to just…" Her voice trailed off to a mere whisper. She wasn't sure what she expected she was able to do back then but she knew as her mother she should have been able to at least do something more than run away.

"It was really hard on all of us, Bones. Together we would have gotten through it." Booth's heart began to tingle with a once familiar feeling, "She's happy and healthy now. It was hard then but _everyone_ made it intact in the end." The second the words fell from his lips Booth knew the anguish the few small words had caused.

Everyone around him had made it through that first year and he knew without his deep support system each would have cracked under the slightest pressure. Yet the woman sitting before him had ran, fled the situation in terror and was left to deal with a long plaguing guilt that had practically eaten her alive. All the markers were there. The way her body seemed to come alive around the little girl he knew deep down she loved. Earlier in the night was the proof of five years of self degradation and loathing could do to a strong, independent woman. She had practically killed herself because that is what she thought she had to do to make things right. In her own convoluted way she was trying to right all the wrongs he had ever committed. And in that second, his heart shattered.

"It wasn't your fault." He once again tried to reassure the frail person before him. "She knows you love her."

Her eyes slowly flicked up, studying the slightly aged features that had haunted her dreams for years. Honesty was written all over his features and without even thinking the three raw words her heart had been pleading for years finally started to flow.

"But do you?"


	5. Chapter 5

"I… Bones after all these years…" Booth choked in brutal anguish. "I just… can't." The word slowly rolled off his lips as his heart begged for it to just be a dream; not a memory of the moment his whole world shattered into small, unrecognizable pieces and the man he once was died. The love he felt for this woman was sometimes so deafening he was sure she could hear it but in that small, undeniable moment all he could hear was silence. The silence of heartbreak.

The one moment he had spent the last six years pleading for was slowly unfolding before him and all he could focus on was the many faults that still bled his heart dry. And this woman had faults, more than he ever expected but in his eyes she was still perfect. But the faults… they were where his heart and soul lay dying.

Faults, stupid insignificant faults that had tainted every good act this woman had ever done. She had saved his heart, body and soul on countless occasions, and all he could focus on was the one glaring fault that started the slowly unraveling of his heart.

She left.

For all her faults she was still the mother of his child. A mother who left, betrayed, and destroyed the only thing he had managed to do right. She had tried to do the right thing, he knew that now but the blow was too much for his fragile ego to take. He had failed. Maybe if he had tried a little harder, been a better lover, or even hugged a little harder she would have known it was okay to stay. But feeling betrayed he let her run with the wind, betraying her heart the night he whispered goodbye.

Faults, the secret ghosts everyone hides behind vainly lit eyes. Sure, the woman staring back at him was full of those fateful figments but the hollowness that filled her red rimmed eyes spoke of redemption mere mortals could only beg for.

"I understand." Brennan solemnly whispered, "After all these years I shouldn't even expect to you to even look at me. I knew the risks when I left my family but I left without a second thought. I… I just thought after all we had… " Brennan's voice suddenly fell as the tears overwhelmed every word trying to force its way out.

"Bones…" Booth rasped as he watched the woman before him shatter into a thousand self-deprecating pieces. His heart pleaded for her to just look up into the eyes that spoke more than words ever could, but that was a risk this once adventurous woman could not take.

"It was irrational for me to think that just my presence would make you rethink our arrangement. It has been years, it is logical to conclude you have moved on and do not feel the same way. I knew then you loved me and… felt as I still do. Just because my world has been frozen in time since that moment doesn't mean yours had as well. You should have moved on, Seeley. You deserve it. "

But the truth was he hadn't. The few dates he had been on over the years were sad, pathetic and draining. Sympathy was a word that swirled around his brain every time his co-workers had brought up the dating scene and some perfect woman they had found for him. All he had ever really wanted was to be at home with his daughter, a figment of the woman his heart still longed for. It took years but people stopped setting him up. With every friendly hug and walk home the glaring hole in his heart became apparent even to strangers. You couldn't help mend a heart that was never really his to begin with.

Now he couldn't even get a date if he had tried, and he really hadn't wanted to until now, when the woman that set his body on fire was before him. Now more than ever he longed for more than just a pity hug. That was, if his body could ever muster up the courage to do more than wrap his arms around her delicate form he had destroyed.

"Bones…" Booth growled as he clamped his hand down on hers, ceasing her jagged, and frightful movements, "It is not as simple as you think. I love you… I'll always love you but…"

"We… we just won't work." Brennan's voice shook as she tried to piece together his words as quickly as she could.

Brennan's tear filled eyes twinkled up as a solemn tear streaked down her face. Had she not lost her chance to be with the man of her dreams because of a stupid character flaw?

"Things are not as simple as that and you know it." Booth treaded lightly, trying to not snap her fragile state of mind, "We cannot just pretend that it is only our hearts that need mending. There is someone else who matters more than us. This just isn't you and I anymore."

"Booth," Brennan pleaded, "I love you. I want you. I need you. Why can't you just love me?" And as his eyes flicked toward the mirror image of the woman in his arms, she knew the answer.

He loved her, looking up at those twinkling blues it was more evident than ever, but as hard as it was, he knew Joy losing her mother again would destroy her fragile little soul. That little girl had become his world, and even if it meant losing the only woman he would ever love he would make that girl smile once more.

"I didn't say I ever stopped loving you. Hell, I couldn't even stop myself if I tried." He humbly confessed, "It has been years and not a second has gone by that I ever stopped. You're the mother to my child, my other half and the only woman who will be able to love me for who I am. My heart has always been yours and you know it."

"Booth, I-" Brennan spoke as Booth's words slowly catalogued and his surprising confession fell against her broken heart.

"I know, Bones, I know." He tried to soothe the tears drenching his shirt. "After all these years as much as it pains me I cannot fall into what we once had. There is damage there that needs mending before we can even try. I'll always love you but…" Booth's words trailed off as her hands gripped his body flush to hers.

"But your tone dictates that my love is not enough." Brennan sniffled, trying to keep her vulnerability from showing.

"I know you love me, Bones, but things like this take time." He soothed with his calming strokes, "We just need to do things right."

"Mommy! Mommy!" Joy giggled as she ran toward her parents with a large stuffed animal covering most of her body. "Look what I got… Daddy, why is mommy crying?" Her eyes frantically fell between her parents. She had just met her mother, she couldn't lose her again.

"Dad!" Joy protested as her mother squirmed out of her father's grasp.

"Joy…" Booth spoke softly as he patted the spot his partner had vacated, "We need to talk."


End file.
